Thread: Tell us about the first Land Rover you ever owned

I always wanted a Land Rover, so after graduating from a VW Kombi I bought my first 4wd, a Datsun 720 Dual Cab in 1983. Yes, go figure.

My first Land Rover we bought in 1987, a Stage 1 V8 Stn Wgn. We owned that vehicle for 21 years and it took us lots of places, including our first crossing of the Simpson in '89 and to Cape York solo in '94, Fraser Island and many, many weekends camping and weeks of touring.

This is 'Alfred'.

Alfred.jpg
A child of the '70s, which we adopted in '79, in the Isa. Helen and I had many adventures and one or two misadventures with him, over the years. I remember on leaving the Isa, there was a fair bit of water over the road in several places, so we hooked Alfred up to the Kingswood that Helen was driving and I'd tow her through the different patches. Probably frowned upon today! I traded him on a 244 Volvo sedan after returning to S.E. Qld in the late 80's. The Volvo was a great car, but not the character that Alfred was.

Helen and I still talk about him.

My first was a 200Tdi Defender 110 trayback.

Mate named it Doris which i thought was a stupid name and had never heard of a car called that before.,
But I see that @Tins also has a trayback ute named Doris. What are the odds...

My first Land Rover was a 300TDI Disco 1. It was at the time that they were using the "starts below 40" theme for their ads. I almost bought a second hand 3 door a couple of years earlier but ended up with a Daihatsu Rocky instead. I haven't been without a Land Rover since 1998 or so.
Disco1.jpg

Pictured in Tassie

Regards,
Tote

Originally Posted by scarry

Great write up and pics.

Its amazing what we did years ago.
There was 4 of us kids,two parents in the SWB S1,wooden tailer in tow,used to travel all over the place.
Fraser island trips went for months,although on occasions we did get food and parts flown in.
Also long trips up to Cairns and Daintree areas are in my memory as well.
Huge canvas tents,no fridges,tinned food,dried meals at times,powdered milk,fresh fish(if we caught any,which we usually did),etc,etc.
No complaints either,three of us kids, spent weeks, in the back of the S1,sitting on pillows,or towels.The youngest always sat in the middle in the front.
Not much ventilation,we always had a paper bag ready if we didnt feel well

Kids these days wouldnt last 2Km without a winge or three
Any of that and we got a good clip around the ear

Pics of those days for us are hard to come by,but i will have a search.

Not Landrover, but where us kids travelled in 1947. I am far right, my sister is the oldest one, the other three are cousins. By the clothes we are wearing it must have been my grandfather's 90th, held in the old hall at Mulgoa, where the fire station is now (I think). There were only two seats in the front for mum and dad, so the kids travelled in the back. The vehicle is a Ford T.

Kids in back of Ford.jpg

Originally Posted by JDNSW

There were only two seats in the front for mum and dad, so the kids travelled in the back. The vehicle is a Ford T.

Huh very neat. Am guessing the engineering inspection of the anchor points for the additional child seats was a lot cheaper back then? 🙃

My first LR was a second hand blue Disco 1 which I bought in 1996 and i thought it was the bees knees after having a holden jackaroo previously. It was a manual and a great car except I remember the dashboard cracked to the point that it was ugly. LR still replaced the dashboard even though it was out of warranty. Did lots of sand driving around Beachport back then. I think my favorite car of all time was my grey Disco Series II with auto and the 5 cylinder motor.

MyFirst1.jpg

Originally Posted by skidrov

Huh very neat. Am guessing the engineering inspection of the anchor points for the additional child seats was a lot cheaper back then? 🙃

Anchor points? child seats? seats?

Perhaps worth pointing out that the Ford T truck had a nominal maximum speed of 15mph, about 25kph. While speeds could get a little faster downhill or perhaps even on the level, they were certainly not fast. Those fitted with a two speed axle were faster (35kph). They had a nominal carrying capacity of one ton, a wheelbase 15% longer than the car, and a 7.25" diff ration compared to 3:1 for the car. But the same 20bhp motor and transmission.

The Ford T car, with much higher gearing, had a top speed of around 70kph.